Electron tube and socket



March 29, I966 LEVINv 3,243,624

ELECTRON TUBE AND SOCKET Filed June 14, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INV EN TOR. MARTIN E. LEVIN Wwaw ATTORNEY March 29. 1966 M. E. LEVIN 3,243,624

ELECTRON TUB E AND SOCKET Filed June 14, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. MARTIN E. LEVIN F Z .4 7 BY ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,243,624 ELECTRON TUBE AND SOCKET Martin E. Levin, Burlingame, Califi, assignor to Varian Associates, a corporation of California Filed June 14, 1963, Ser. No. 287,994 16 Claims. (Cl. 313-49) This invention relates to electron tubes and sockets and to means for connecting a tube and socket.

One of the more recent advances in tube socketing constructions is disclosed in Patent No. 2,952,789 to J. A. McCullough et al., issued September 13, 1960, and assigned to the same assignee as this application. Said McCullough et al. patent discloses a socketing concept in which the tube is inserted axially in the socket and then rotated to achieve electrical contact and mechanical locking of the tube in the socket. The arrangement for providing this type of socketing comprises a tube in which terminal tabs project outwardly from the side wall of the tube. The tabs are arranged in a series of planes which are normal to the tube axis and spaced therealong. The tabs in each plane are circumferentially spaced, and the tabs in the several planes are oriented one above the other in vertical rows. The socket comprises similarly arranged rows of contact fingers spaced around axially separated planes. Thus, the tube can be axially inserted in the socket with the vertical rows of terminal tabs passing between the vertical rows of contact fingers, and then the tube is rotated until the terminal tabs come into overlapping engagement with the contact fingers.

It is an object of this invention to achieve the axial and rotational socketing concept of said patent in a manner which solves a different set of problems than those solved by said patent.

More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide an axial and rotational socketing connection involving radially projecting tabs on the tube in which the tabs need not be arranged in vertical rows. This offset tab arrangement makes it possible to achieve greater rigidity in the mechanical connection between the tube and socket. The reason for the rigidity is that in considering forces tending to tilt the tube in all directions around its axis, the tabs in one plane resist the tilting force in some directions and the offset tabs in another of the planes resist the tilting force in other directions. In accordance with the invention it is even possible to have the terminal tabs in the several planes be of sufiicient arcuate length that when the angle covered by the tabs of one row is added to the angle covered by the offset tabs of the other rows, the entire 360 periphery of the tube is covered so that the tube is gripped by the socket around the entire periphery of the tube. The row type arrangement of said McCullough et al. patent makes it impossible for the tabs to cover an angle greater than 180, or half the periphery, because the space between rows of tabs must cover the other half of the periphery to make room for the socket contacts during axial insertion.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tab-type socketing construction involving increased electrical contact surface between the tube terminals and the socket contacts. Accordingly, the invention does not rely on tabs for electrical contact and instead employs continuous rings for electrical contact.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tube socketing construction which reduces the electrical leakage across the plane of contact between a tube terminal and a socket contact.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a tube socketing construction in which a closure ring on the tube cooperates with a closure rim on the socket to solve the electrical leakage problem and to further increase the rigidity of the connection and socket.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved tube and socket arrangement in which the socket forms a cavity resonator.

A further object of the invention is to provide an' im proved electron tube particularly adapted for use in a cavity resonator.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement for providing liquid cooling of the anode of a tube of the type described, said improvement involving the use of an exhaust tubulation as a heat dissipating and channel forming surface.

These and other objects and features of advantage will become more apparent from the following detailed de-' scription which makes reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional view on the centerline of a tube and socket construction according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the tube and socket shown in FIGURE 1; I

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the socket in the rotational position shown in FIGURE 1, with the tube removed and the outer portion of the socket cut away; and

FIGURE 4 is a bottom view of the tube in the rotational position shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring in more detail to the drawings, FIGURE 1 discloses an electron tube 1 and a socket 2. The tube comprises an anode formed by the surface 3 of atcupshaped member 4. The tube also includes a cathode 5 with a helical heater wire 6, and a wire mesh grid 7 between the anode and cathode. The cathode is .supported on a cylindrical heat dam 8 which is in turn mounted on the outer leg of a reentrant support member 9. One end of the heater is electrically connected to the cathode support member 9 by means of a lead 10, and the other end of the heater is connected to a post 11. The hermetically sealed lower portion of the envelope between members 9 and 11 comprises a ceramic tube 12 metalized at 13 along its entire outer periphery'and along the lower portion of its inner periphery at 14. A post support and closure member 15 is brazed to .the inside metalizing 14 and the inner leg of member 9 is brazed to the outer metalizing 13.

The remaining bottom portion of the envelope is formed by a ceramic ring 16, metalized inside and out, and brazed to the member 9 and to a ceramic. side .envelope wall cylinder 17 which is metalized at-the joint area. The upper end of cylinder 17 is metalizedand is brazed to a grid terminal ring 18 on which the grid 7 is mounted. The side wall ofthe :envelope is continued upwardly by a ceramic cylinder 24 which is met'alizd at its ends and brazed to terminal ring 18 and to a terminal ring extension 25 on the anode member 4.

Improved cooling means for the anode are providedin the form of cylindrical members 26, 27 and 28, which together with a pinched-off'tubulation 29 and top. member 30 form a passage for cooling liquid fed by inlet and outlet pipes 31 and 32, respectively. It will be noted that member 29 serves the triple functions of exhaust tubulation, heat dissipating surface, andchannel forming means for establishing the path of the cooling fluid.

One feature of the invention relates to the terminal rings 18 and 25. It will be noted that terminal ring 18 projects outwardly beyond the. envelope wall to a, point defined by its outer rim 35. In addition, one or more locking tabs 36 extend outwardly from rim 35, three such tabs being a preferred number. Similarly, terminal ring 25 projects outwardly beyond the envelope wall to a point defined by its outer rim 37 and has locking tabs 38 extending outwardly from rim 37. It will be noted between the tube that terminal rings 18 and 25 are of progressively increasing diameter starting with the bottom of the tube. Although only two terminal rings are employed in the tube shown, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the arrangement is adaptable to three or more terminal rings. For example, a third terminal ring above ring 25 would bear the same diameter-relation to ring 25 that ring 25 bears to ring 18, and the locking tabs on the three rings could all be positioned at diiferent locations around the tube.

In some cases electron tubes and sockets are arranged in an electrical circuit which requires a minimum of electrical leakage across the various terminals. The arrangement shown in FIGURE 1 is a portion of such a circuit, and the tube in FIGURE 1 includes closure rings 40 and 41 which cooperate with the socket 2 to prevent electrical leakage, as will be hereinafter described in detail. The closure rings 40 and 41 are attached to the tube, preferably by brazing them to the terminal rings 18 and 25, respectively.

Socket 2 comprises a top wall 45, a bottom wall 46, a rectangular side wall 47, and an internal partition wall 48. These walls cooperate with the tube to form resonant cavities 49 and 50. Conventional loop-type coaxial terminals 51 and 52 as well as conventionally mounted tuning plungers 53 and 54 are provided for the cavities.

The top wall 45 and the partition wall 48 of the socket are apertured to receive the tube by insertion vertically down into the socket. A ring of contact fingers 58 is mounted around the aperture in the top wall and a ring of contact fingers 59 is mounted around the aperture in the partition wall. The contact ring 58 is insulated from wall 45 by a ring of dielectric material 60 to form a radio frequency by-pass. The contact and insulating rings are clamped to wall 45 by a clamping ring 61 and screws 62, which pass through insulating plugs 57. The clamping ring 61 includes a raised inner rim which provides three circumferentially spaced locking lips 63 and a continuous closure rim 64. The contact ring 59 is attached to the partition wall 48 by a clamping ring 66 and screws 67. Clamping ring 66 includes a raised inner rim which provides three circumferentially spaced locking lips 68 and a continuous closure rim 69.

The bottom wall 46 of the socket is centrally apertured to accommodate the heater and cathode terminal tube 12. The socket contact for the cathode comprises a circular array of upwardly extending contact fingers 72 mounted on an apertured metal plate 73. The mounting plate 73 is insulated from wall 46 by a dielectric ring 74 to form a radio frequency by-pass. The plate 73 and ring 74 are held in place by screws 75 through dielectric plugs 76. The socket contact for the heater comprises a circular array of four upwardly extending prongs 78 screwed into a dielectric block 79. In order to support block 79 and close the bottom of the socket, a cup-shaped member 80 is attached to wall 46 by screws 81. The block 79 is connected to member 80 by a screw 82. Leads 83 and 84 for the heater and cathode, respectively, are insulatingly sealed in the bottom of member 80 and connected to the prongs 78 and fingers 72 by wires 85 and 86 which may include suitable radio frequency chokes.

In order to connect the tube and socket, the tube is inserted vertically into the socket, being rotationally oriented so that the terminal tabs 36 and 38 on the tube pass between the locking lips 68 and 63 on the socket. The tube is moved down until the terminal tabs are just below the plane of the locking lips, and then the tube is rotated until each of the terminal tabs is immediately beneath a locking lip. In this position, the tube is held against upward movement by engagement between the terminal tabs and locking lips. The tube is held against downward movement by the engagement of the terminal rings 18 and 25 with the contact rings 59 and 58, respectively, and by engagement of the closure rings 4i and 41 with the closure rims 69 and 64, respectively. At the same time that the terminals 18 and 25 engage their socket contacts, the cathode terminal 13 is in engagement with its contact fingers 72, and the heater terminal 14 is in engagement with its contact prongs 78. The tube is removed by simply rotating it until the terminal tabs move out from under the locking lips and then lifting the tube vertically out of the socket.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. Electron tube apparatus comprising an electron tube having a generally cylindrical hermetically sealed envelope and electrodes in said envelope, terminal rings connected to said electrodes and projecting outwardly spaced axially along the side of said envelope and being placed axially along the side of said envelope and being of progressively increasing diameters in one direction along the axis of the tube, at least one locking tab projecting radially outwardly from the periphery of each of said terminal rings; and a socket for said tube comprising coaxial contact rings, means supporting said contact rings spaced one above the other, said contact rings being of progressively increasing inside diameters in one direction along the axis of the socket, the inside diameters and axial spacing of said contact rings being such that when the tube is inserted in the socket each of said terminal rings overlappingly engages one of said contact rings and is of smaller diameter than the inside diameter of the next larger contact ring, and at least one member on said socket having a radially inwardly projecting locking lip closely adjacent and overlying each of said contact rings for interengagement with a cooperating one of said locking tabs, the distance between the axis of the socket and the inner tip of each of said locking lips being smaller than the distance between the axis of the tube and the outer tip of the cooperating locking tab, and the combined circumferential distance spanned by an individual locking lip and the cooperating locking tab being less than 360, whereby when the tube is inserted in the socket one of said lips overlappingly engages said cooperating locking tab when the tube is in one rotational position in the socket and is otfset from said tab when the tube is in another rotational position.

2. Electron tube apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the distance between the axis of the tube and the periphery of the locking tab on each terminal ring is less than the inside radius of the contact ring engaged by the next larger terminal ring.

3. Electron tube apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said contact rings each comprise a plurality of inwardly projecting resilient contact fingers closely spaced in a circular array, said tube carries a continuous annular metallic closure ring adjacent at least one of said terminal rings, at least one member on said socket having a continuous annular metallic closure rim closely adjacent to and overlying at least one of said contact rings, and said closure ring and rim are positioned so that when the tube is in the socket said closure ring engages said closure rim.

4. Electron tube apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which said locking lip is an integral extension from said closure rim, and said closure ring is attached to its adjacent terminal ring.

5. An electron tube comprising a generally cylindrical hermetically sealed envelope, electrodes in said envelope, terminal rings connected to said electrodes and projecting outwardly from the side of said envelope, said terminal rings being spaced axially along the side of said envelope and being of progressively increasing diameters in one direction along the axis of the tube, and at least one locking tab projecting radially outwardly from the periphery of at least one said terminal rings said locking tab covering substantially less than the full circumference of its terminal ring.

6. An electron tube as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a closure ring adjacent at least one of said terminal rings, said closure ring having a larger diameter than the adjacent terminal ring.

7. An electron tube as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a closure ring adjacent said at least one terminal rings, said closure ring having a larger radius than the distance between the tube axis and the tip of the locking tab on said adjacent terminal ring.

8. An electron tube as claimed in claim 5 in which said at least one terminal ring is a small diameter terminal ring relative to at least one other terminal ring, and the distance between the axis of the tube and the tip of the locking tab on said small diameter terminal ring is no larger than the radius of the next larger terminal ring.

9. An electron tube comprising a hermetically sealed envelope and electrodes in said envelope, terminals connected to said electrodes and extending to the outside of. said envelope, at least one of said terminals being a ring projecting radially outward from said envelope, and a metallic closure ring on said tube closely adjacent said terminal ring and electrically connected thereto, said closure ring having a larger diameter than said terminal ring, and said closure ring being adapted to cooperate with a continuous ring on a socket to prevent electrical leakage when the tube is in the socket and said terminal ring engages a ring of contact fingers in the socket.

10. An electron tube as claimed in claim 9 in which said closure ring is mounted on said terminal ring.

11. An electron tube socket comprising coaxial contact rings, means supporting said rings spaced along their common axis, said contact rings being of progressively increasing diameter in one direction along the axis of the socket, and at least one radially inwardly projecting locking lip on said socket closely adjacent at least one of said contact rings, the distance between the inner edge of said locking lip and said axis being greater than the inside radius of said adjacent contact ring, and said locking lip and contact ring arrangmeent being adapted for clamping a tube terminal member.

12. An electron tube socket as claimed in claim 11 in which said socket further comprises a closure rim positioned on said supporting means adjacent at least one of said contact rings, the inner diameter of said closure rim being larger than the inner diameter of said adjacent contact ring.

13. An electron tube socket as claimed in claim 11 in which said socket further comprises a closure rim positioned on said supporting means adjacent at least one of said contact rings, and said locking lip is an integral extension from said closure rim.

14. An electron tube comprising a hermetically sealed envelope and electrodes in said envelope, terminal rings connected to said electrodes and projecting to the outside of said envelope, said terminal rings being spaced axially along the side of said envelope and being of progressively increasing diameters in one direction along the axis of the tube, locking tabs spaced around the periphery of and projecting radially outwardly from each of said terminal rings, and said locking tabs on one of said terminal rings being ofiset circumferentially around the tube periphery from the locking tabs on another of said terminal rings.

15. An electron tube as claimed in claim 14 in which the total angle spanned by all of the locking tabs in one row added to the total angle spanned by all of the tabs in each other row is substantially more than 16. An electron tube comprising a hermetically sealed envelope having a center axis, electrodes in said envelope, terminals for said electrodes projecting outwardly of said envelope, said terminals comprising radially outwardly projecting contact tabs arranged in planes spaced along said envelope, the distance between said axis and the tips of said tabs being a progressively increasing distance from plane to plane in one direction along the axis of the tube, and the tabs in one plane circumferentially around said envelope from the tabs in another plane.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,937,846 12/ 1933 Rudenberg 313-22 2,048,129 7/ 193 6 Loughridge 3 13-3 18 X 2,362,816 11/ 1944 Harker 313-20 2,411,046 11/ 1946 Liimatainen 313-253 2,416,565 2/ 1947 Beggs 313-318 2,465,370 3/ 1949 Glauber 313-254 2,481,026 9/1949 Law et al. 313-254 2,534,548 12/ 1950 Pay et al. 313-247 2,760,177 8/1956 Hollis et al 339-182 2,819,421 1/ 1958 Ringland 313-40 2,935,783 5/ 1960 McCullough et a1 29-407 2,957,095 10/ 1960 Wolfson 3 13-51 3,060,417 10/ 1962 Blake 339-182 X 3,109,119 10/1963 Spurck 313-269 JAMES D. KALLAM, Acting Primary Examiner.

A. M. LESNIAK, Assistant Examiner. 

1. ELECTRON TUBE APPARATUS COMPRISING AN ELECTRON TUBE HAVING A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL HERMETICALLY SEALED ENVELOPE AND ELECTRODES IN SAID ENVELOPE, TERMINAL RINGS CONNECTED TO SAID ELECTRODES AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY SPACED AXIALLY ALONG THE SIDE OF SAID ENVELOPE AND BEING PLACED AXIALLY ALONG THE SIDE OF SAID ENVELOPE AND BEING OF PROGRESSIVELY INCREASING DIAMETERS IN ONE DIRECTION ALONG THE AXIS OF THE TUBE, AT LEAST ONE LOCKING TAB PROJECTING RADIALLY OUTWARDLY FROM THE PERIPHERY OF EACH OF SAID TERMINAL RINGS; AND A SOCKET FOR SAID TUBE COMPRISING COAXIAL CONTACT RINGS, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID CONTACT RINGS SPACED ONE ABOVE THE OTHER, SAID CONTACT RINGS BEING OF PROGRESSIVELY INCREASING INSIDE DIAMETERS IN ONE DIRECTION ALONG THE AXIS OF THE SOCKET, THE INSIDE DIAMETERS AND AXIAL SPACING OF SAID CONTACT RINGS BEING SUCH THAT WHEN THE TUBE IS INSERTED IN THE SOCKET EACH OF SAID TERMINAL RINGS OVERLAPPINGLY ENGAGES ONE OF SAID CONTACT RINGS AND IS OF SMALLER DIAMETER THAN THE INSIDE DIAMETER OF THE NEXT LARGER CONTACT RING, AND AT LEAST ONE MEMBER ON SAID SOCKET HAVING A RADIALLY INWARDLY PROJECTING LOCKING LIP CLOSELY ADJACENT AND OVERLYING EACH OF SAID CONTACT RINGS FOR INTERENGAGEMENT WITH A COOPERATING ONE OF SAID LOCKING TABS, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE AXIS OF THE SOCKET AND THE INNER TIP OF EACH OF SAID LOCKING LIPS BEING SMALLER THAN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE AXIS OF THE TUBE AND THE OUTER TIP OF THE COOPERATING LOCKING TAB, AND THE COMBINED CIRCUMFERENTIAL DISTANCE SPANNED BY AN INDIVIDUAL LOCKING LIP AND THE COOPERATING LOCKING TAB BEING LESS THAN 360*, WHEREBY WHEN THE TUBE IS INSERTED IN THE SOCKET ONE OF SAID LIPS OVERLAPPINGLY ENGAGES SAID COOPERATING LOCKING TAB WHEN THE TUBE IS IN ONE ROTATIONAL POSITION IN THE SOCKET AND IS OFFSET FROM SAID TAB WHEN THE TUBE IS IN ANOTHER ROTATIONAL POSITION. 